Saturday, 5 May 2012

Moves to tackle climate change have run into public “inertia” in the face of economic uncertainty, mounting debts and the ongoing eurozone crisis, according to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rajendra Pachauri.

“People are preoccupied with other problems,” said Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and heads TERI, an Indian research and policy institute.

“There is inertia within the entire system, and we are seeing that inertia at work. Over the past few years people become more focused on other things, leading to a shift in motivation.”

One sign of this apathy on a governmental level is the so-called Green Climate Fund, a financing initiative floated at the Copenhagen Summit in 2009. The GCF was created as a conduit to channel up to $100 billion a year into environmental projects in emerging markets by the 2020.

Pachauri said the project had not moved on much since then, noting that “no concrete commitments have been made on [GCF so far]."

Of course Pachauri did not applaud the positive development away from global warming alarmism, but at least he has noted the fact that "people are proccupied with other problems" - real problems. Pachauri´s statement with regard to the Green Climate Fund just shows that the senseless "decision" to launch the fund was only a face-saving device, never meant to be taken seriously. Still the project is going to cost taxpayers in industrialized countries billions, because the plans to build a heavily staffed headquarters are proceeding, never mind that "no concrete commitments have been made".

The speech by EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso at the opening of the

EU-China High Level Meeting on Energy in Brussels, 3 May, again shows that EU leaders live in a dream world of their own:

Vice Premier,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Ministers on the Chinese and the European side,

Dear Günther Öettinger

Excellencies, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen.

--

With our European 20-20-20 commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, more than double our share of renewable energy in our energy mix, and improve energy efficiency by 20%, all of this by 2020, we have launched a highly ambitious European energy policy. And we are delivering on it!

These actions are cornerstones of our Europe 2020 agenda for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth: Because you simply cannot have sustainable growth without sustainable energy production and use. But unleashing the potential of this new energy revolution is also creating huge job opportunities. And it will enable us to conserve and invest in key natural resources.

The EU is thus leading what some call the third industrial revolution; we are showing not only that our 2020 objectives can and will be met, but can positively benefit our citizens and provide answers to the issue of climate change, and support our drive for long term sustainable growth.

Barroso´s words about the EU as a leader of "the third industrial revolution" are of course nothing but pure nonsense. The only thing he - and the rest of the EU leaders - is leading is failure to provide real growth for the great majority of EU members states. And not a word by Barroso about the only thing that could make a real contribution to energy and growth in Europe! - The shale gas revolution.

The former Portuguese Maoist´s empty words cannot have made much of an impression on the Vice Pemier and the other Chinese representatives. Maybe they reminded Barroso about the fact that China - holder of the world´s biggest shale gas reserves - has decided to speed up unconventional gas exploration. That is where the real "third industrial revolution" is.

Hopefully "Dear Günther Öettinger" had something more sensible to say to the Chinese visitors.

“The choice is clear: with policy certainty, we’ll grow to 100,000 jobs in just a few years,” AWEA CEO Denise Bode said in a statement. “Without it, 37,000 jobs will disappear, particularly in U.S. wind manufacturing. It’s up to Congress to act now and extend the PTC.”

Fortunately the scare tactics will not succeed in the Senate, where most Republican senators indeed know that the choice is clear: The "37,000 jobs" that "will disappear" are no real jobs, if they are dependent on tax credits. The senators also know that wind turbines are unreliable, costly and ineffective, compared with traditional ways of generating power.

efforts by wind power proponents to extend the credit beyond its Dec. 31 expiration have stalled in the Senate, where the requirement of 60 votes to pass legislation has proved insurmountable. The credit is worth 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power produced.

As everywhere else, the wind power industry in the U.S. is in for rough times, when subsidies and tax credits vanish. On the positive side; there is more than enough of good and dependable energy for future needs in the U.S. thanks to the shale gas and oil revolution.

"Chen Guangcheng is currently in the hospital receiving treatment," Mr. Liu said. "If he wants to go abroad to study, as a Chinese citizen he can like other Chinese citizens go through normal channels to take care of the relevant processes at the relevant departments in accordance with the law."

At a later, regular daily news briefing, Mr. Liu said Mr. Chen could qualify for permission to study abroad despite his conviction in 2006 on charges of destruction of property and obstructing traffic—charges that his supporters say were trumped up by local authorities.

"According to Chinese law he's now a normal Chinese citizen, and through normal means he can apply through relevant procedures," Mr. Liu said.

Mr. Liu said he had no information on whether Mr. Chen's family could accompany him.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed China's statement Friday. She also cited progress in resolving the issue of Mr. Chen, which has become a political embarrassment for the Obama administration and strained China-U.S. ties.

There is not - at least yet - any reason to celebrate China´s "offer". We do not e.g. know anything about whether Mr. Chen´s family will be able to join him in the US. And the Chinese representatives´ way of describing Chen as "a normal Chinese citizen", who "like other Chinese citizens" can "go through normal channels to take care of the relevant processes at the relevant departments in accordance with the law", is laughable and disgusting, when we know how he and his family have been treated for years now.

This is e.g. what happened to Mr. Chen´s wife after he had fled to the US embassy in Peking:

He cited what his wife said were threats of bodily harm from security forces who tied her to a chair for two days and threatened to hurt her after he had escaped.

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi is openly saying what eurozone political leaders do not - yet - want their voters to know: The member states will have to accept a loss of their sovereignity in favour of a central government.

Also part of his vision of a "growth compact," Draghi backed calls for a
boost in the resources of the European Investment Bank and said EU funds needed
to be "redirected" to low-income areas - ideas already floated by Francois
Hollande, the frontrunner in the Sunday presidential elections in France. "But the thirdly and most importantly is that we collectively have to specify
a path for the euro. How do we see ourselves in 10 years from now ...We want to
have a fiscal union? We have to accept the delegation of fiscal sovereignty from
national to some form of central [government]," he said.In getting there, politicians should however refrain from talking about a
"transfer union" as a starting point, he said, in reference to richer countries
automatically paying for poorer ones, a concept most loathed by Germany and its
independence-wary Bundesbank.

It is also worth noting that Draghi, while in reality calling for a transfer union ("EU funds needed to be "redirected" to low-income areas") urges politicians to refrain from using the words "transfer union", because Germans do not like it.

Draghis views are of course not surprising. He is just doing what the EU political leaders have done already for years - misleading and misinforming voters - and keeping them out of the EU decision making process. What is perhaps new, is that the unelected Draghi is openly recommending this deeply undemocratic way of treating the citizens of Europe.

Thursday, 3 May 2012

Swedish police said they arrested six Greenpeace activists who boarded an
icebreaker in the Baltic Sea Thursday in a bid to block plans by Anglo Dutch
giant Shell to drill for oil in the Arctic.The activists, who boarded the Finnish icebreaker Nordica, were arrested for
"aggravated trespassing and criminal conversion," police said in a
statement.The Nordica is under contract to Shell with another icebreaker, the Fennica,
to provide support for an operation to drill five exploratory wells in the
Chukchi and Beaufort Seas respectively, Greenpeace says.

According to local officials, Swedish authorities boarded the icebreaker at
around 8:30 am. They had arrested one of the activists, but the five others had
remained chained to the vessel until the ship was piloted into port in the
southeastern town of Karlskrona.Finnish police said 40 Greenpeace demonstrators were detained Tuesday after
they tried to block it from leaving Helsinki.

I am not in a position to know, but if what Mitt Romney suggests, is true - or even partially true - his description is right:

"If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom and it's a day of shame for the Obama administration."

Mitt Romney on Thursday issued a sharply worded critique of the Obama administration's
handling of the case of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, saying he was
troubled by news reports that Chen felt pressure to leave the U.S. Embassy in Beijing
at a time when he feared for the safety of himself and his family.

During an event in Portsmouth, Va., where he was
endorsed by onetime rival Michele
Bachmann, Romney said he was heartened that Chen, a blind activist lawyer,
had sought shelter at the embassy for six days after escaping house arrest in
his home province of Shandong. But the presumed Republican presidential nominee
said he was concerned about the circumstances of the negotiations between the
U.S. and Chinese governments that led Chen to leave the embassy after assurances
that he and his family would be protected if they remained in China.

"The reports are, if they're accurate, that our
administration, willingly or unwittingly, communicated to Chen an implicit
threat, to his family, and also probably sped up, or may have sped up the
process of his decision to leave the embassy because they wanted to move on to a
series of discussions that [Treasury Secretary Timothy] Geithner and our
secretary of State are planning on having with China,” Romney said, making an
accusation that was immediately repudiated by White
House officials.

"It's also apparent, according to these reports if they’re accurate, that our
embassy failed to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would assure
the safety of Mr. Chen and his family,” Romney said. "If these reports are true,
this is a dark day for freedom and it's a day of shame for the Obama
administration. We are a place of freedom, here and around the world, and we
should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack."White House officials said the reports were not accurate and that Chen was
never under any pressure to leave the embassy. And as long as he was there, the
White House press secretary said, Chen never asked for asylum.

It will be interesting to see, whether Chen and his family will be able to join Hillary Clinton when she returns from China:

A top activist for human rights in China warned on Thursday that if the
United States wants to maintain its image as a global human rights leader,
dissident Chen Gaungcheng and his family must join Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton when she returns from China this week.

--

Bob Fu, President of China Aid and a prominent Chinese human rights activist,
expressed confidence that Beijing would cooperate with American demands for
asylum for Chen and his family. “If the U.S. government and President Obama have
the will and determination to help do that,” Hu said, “I think the Chinese
government will let them go.”Whether that will exists is not certain. Fu echoed other reports about Chen’s
departure from the U.S. embassy, saying Chen had told him he “felt pressured to
leave.” American officials have disputed that, saying Chen seemed eager to
return.

A leading American human rights activist also demanded that Chen and his family should be get asylum in the US: If the United States does not take steps to safeguard Chen and his family, warned Reggie Littlejohn of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers at an exclusive press conference at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday, it will do “tremendous damage to the United States’ reputation as a human rights defender.”

Littlejohn called on the State Department to “do whatever it takes to get asylum” for Chen, and to guarantee that he will join Clinton when she returns from her diplomatic mission to Beijing.

The US is showing the way with regard to the shale gas and oil revolution. Europe should follow. Sadly, the Europeans, with the exception of Poland, and it appears, also the UK, are too dominated by the two G:s - greenies and Gazprom - who for various reasons oppose the best thing that could happen in Europe since the North Sea oil deposits were found.

"In this way we’re destroying the foundations of our prosperity. In the end what
we are doing is putting the German automotive sector at risk, the steel, copper
and chemical sectors, silicon, you name it."Fritz Vahrenholty we’re destroying the foundations of our prosperity. In the end what
we are doing is putting the German automotive sector at risk, the steel, copper
and chemical sectors, silicon, you name it.

The European Energy Review has a must read interview with Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, German politician (SPD),
industrialist and environmentalist, who has strongly criticized both the basic tenets of the global warming establishment and the Merkel government´s Energiewende (Energy transition policy):

Fritz Vahrenholt, head of the renewable energy arm of RWE (the second largest electricity producer in Germany) and a
former hero of the German environmental movement, has been derided in Germany as
a lobbyist for the fossil fuel sector after he published a book highly critical
of the global warming consensus. But Vahrenholt's message is far from
simplistic. He supports the idea of an "Energy Transformation", but argues that
the current German approach is too costly and even counterproductive. Germany's
renewable energy policies are undermining the country's biodiversity and
destroying its forests, he says in an interview with EER. He is convinced that
the contribution of CO2 to global warming is being exaggerated and that there is
more time to come to genuinely sustainable solutions. "We run the risk of
destroying the foundations of our prosperity."

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

A few weeks ago the Polish Geographical Institute estimated that Poland may have significantly less shale gas than previously thought. However, as we have already pointed out, these are early days. Much more exploration is needed in order to find out the size of the total shale gas deposits.

The latest report from three coastal license areas indicates that there might be more shale gas than the Polish Geological Institute estimated:

Poland may be able to extract 25-75 billion cubic meters (bcm) of shale gas from just three coastal license areas in Western Pomerania (Slawno, Slupsk, Starogard) operated by Saponis Investments, according to a study carried out by RPS Energy, published by Saponis shareholder LNG Energy and quoted by the daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

The total deposits have been estimated at 128 bcm in the most pessimistic scenario and at 376 bcm in the most optimistic one, with recoverable resources at 25 to 75 bcm respectively, the daily wrote.

If the estimates could be extrapolated to the country level, Poland could be sitting on conditional resources of 4.6 to 13.6 trillion cubic meters of shale gas, or recoverable resources of 1 to 3 trillion cubic meters, much above the recent estimates of the Polish Geological Institute (PIG).

However, experts are skeptical whether all deposits are as rich as in the three license areas.

Using smartphone apps and sensors, high tech pioneers are monitoring their own bodily functions such as heart rates, sleep patterns and blood. The 'self trackers' dream of a digitalized medicine that will enable people to lead healthier lives by getting around-the-clock updates on what goes on inside their bodies.

Recent developments even make it possible for smartphones to identify mood fluctuations. Researchers discovered they could determine a subject's state of mind by monitoring speech rhythms while the person talked on the telephone. If the speaker were in danger of falling into depression, for example, an app could arrange an appointment with a psychiatrist long before the patient would have thought to do so.

"The human is a very flawed measuring instrument," says Calit2 researcher Smarr. "Technical sensors are far more objective. They can detect deviations from norms far more easily and reveal early signals of disease development."

Smarr decided to make himself his own test subject. He placed himself under the authority of a fitness trainer and started constantly recording his bodily functions. A band on his arm told him his daily calorie consumption, how many steps he took and his heart rate. He soon added a Zeo headband that records his sleep stages by measuring his brain activity at night. Users of the product who make their EEG data available online can receive tips from sleep researchers on how to get a better night's sleep. Smarr also keeps track of his diet and to this day uses his cell phone to photograph nearly every meal he eats. An app then estimates from the picture the number of calories in the meal.

--Lee even proposes in all seriousness that in the future, insured individuals who don't measure their vital signs and who ignore health tips should pay higher insurance premiums. "There is a lot of compatibility to the automobile market; the more accidents you have, the higher your premiums go," he points out.

Diet, fitness routines, amount of sleep -- nothing would remain secret from insurance companies anymore. Yet proponents of self-tracking aren't scared by this horror scenario. Smarr believes that in the not-so-distant future, we will all have nanosensors inside our bodies, for example ones that would constantly monitor levels in the blood and automatically sound an alarm if the results deviated from the norm. "In a couple of years time, we won't even notice our body-sensors anymore," the researcher predicts.

Smarr himself doesn't even want to imagine a life without these gadgets. "I regard the little gadgets as my friends, as good angels," he says. "They help me overcome my bad angels in times when I should exercise a bit more."

These self-tracking tools are, of course, only the beginning of a revolution. Somewhere, someone must already be planning for this:

The next logical step is for the IPCC - maybe with the assistance of Greenpeace and the WWF - to create the mother of all self-tracking apps.

The new mega application, would automatically register and quantify all "deviations from norms" with regard to e.g. a person´s diet, obesity, brain activity, internet behaviour, mental health, driving habits, general lifestyle and carbon footprint.

There are already devices that register these things on the personal level. The revolutionary aspect would be to connect all the personal self-tracking devices into a national - and finally global - network, allowing "green" governments, and e.g. insurance companies, to access all the information that is necessary to save the Earth from the predicted global warming armageddon. In order for this project to be succesful, the installation of self-tracking apps into the bodies of all citizens would be mandatory.

Ultimately a UN body, let us call it e.g. The International Center for the Protection of the Earth, would be responsible for managing the new global network. It goes without saying that the new organization would also have the means to severely punish all those individuals displaying significant deviations from the ICPE norms.

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Greenpeace has challenged South Africa´s major energy company Eskom in a spoof ad to cancel the building of the coal-fired power plant Kusile. However, Eskom´s reply to the enviro-fundamentalists is quite clear:

The electricity utility's response to Greenpeace Africa's challenge was a stolid "no".

In its response, Eskom said the demand for power in South Africa justified the building of two coal-fired power plants - Kusile and Medupi.

The Medupi plant is nearing completion and Kusile, according to Eskom spokesman Hilary Joffe, is "on track to start emitting power to the national grid by 2014".

--

"If we're to support economic growth and job investment, we need to make sure we can electrify households.

What Merven says certainly is true at least about solar and wind power. If South Africa wants to give its citizens a chance to a better life, it needs economic growth . Economic growth is not possible without energy. The best and most economic source of energy in South Africa is king coal, no matter how much Greenpeace is trying to demonize it.

What is being exposed is a major flaw with Mrs Merkel's fiscal pact. It is undemocratic. It ties the hands of future governments - and that, of course, was its intention but it doesn't stop voters opposing further cuts.

In the eurozone, deficits are being reduced. But debt - in many cases - is still growing. Growth is almost non-existent. Recession has returned for countries like Spain and Italy. The gap between the German economy and the southern economies is only widening.

Privately in Brussels there are fears that a revolt against more cuts will draw them in. They have become the enforcers of austerity. Some officials are worrying they will be caught in the backlash. Last week over 30% of French voters supported parties hostile to Brussels. The vote was dismissed as "populism" - which is the default response to most criticism - but they were the votes of real people.

The economist Nouriel Roubini described the eurozone crisis as a "slow-motion train wreck".

As we go into May, there are signs of a revolt against austerity gathering pace. If it happens it will be a new and unpredictable phase of the eurozone crisis.

Hopefully this column by Gavin Hewitt is the beginning of a more critical approach towards the euro - and the EU in general - in the Beeb. Although, knowing how deeply devoted to the European "cause" the overwhelming majority of the BCC journalists are, this hope is probably too optimistic. But still - at least a beginning ....

Sunday, 29 April 2012

This "test flight" on board the brand new Falcon 7X probably convinced the EU high fliers. (Is it J.M. Barroso, who is boarding the jet?)

The bigwigs in Brussels have recently been busy prescribing all kinds of adversity measures to European taxpayers. But when it comes to their own luxury lifestyle, all those unpleasantries are quickly forgotten. Now we read about the deal to spend almost €13 millionof taxpayers' money on private jets to whisk the EU's top officials around the globe in luxury.

The Office for Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements (of the EC) has decided/published today the “non-scheduled air-taxi transport services for the President or other members of the European Commission, for the European Parliament Presidency, for the President of the European Council, for the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and any accompanying persons and their luggage to be provided by the Abelag Aviation NV, Zaventem, Belgium. There was only one offer in the tender.Read the entire article hereBarroso, van Rompuy, Schulz and The Baroness Ashton of Upholland will certainly be transported in style to their "next meeting or adventure", if we are to believe how the private jet company describes their future flights:

Airline services are full of restrictions: limited destinations, imposed schedules, burdensome administration and daunting security measures. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to recapture that golden era of flight?

While you’re preparing your next meeting or adventure, our handling crew is working quietly behind the scenes, securing your luggage and refueling and cleaning the aircraft in preparation for your flight.

Isn´t it wonderful that our unelected leaders even have "productivity tools" at their disposal, when they are spending time somewhere there in the skies above us! Who knows, maybe the tools will inspire our poet president van Rompuy to write even better haikus for the citizens to enjoy.

On longer journeys - like e.g.flights to the forthcoming Rio+20 Earth Summit - the preferred jet for the EU "stakeholders" will most likely be the new Falcon 7X:

A late breakfast served for Barroso - or the Baroness

The Falcon 7X also pushes back every limits in terms or range, system technology and comfort onboard.With a range of 11 000 km, the Falcon 7X can easily reach Los Angeles, Tokyo, Johannesburg or Rio de Janeiro from Brussels direct. The aircraft is a three-engine jet. A technical feature which allows it to get rid of the operational limitation that are imposed to the twin-jets notably for the oversea flights (the so-called ETOPS ops). Our new Falcon 7X will be able to accommodate up to 13 passengers. A total of 6 beds can be fitted for long overnight flights. The aircraft also offers provision for a pilot’s rest. The cabin is what you can expect from a Falcon jet : top of the range finishing and unbeatable comfort.

On shorter day trips this jet will probably be the Baroness Ashton of Upholland´s preferred transportation:

Abelag is proud to announce that it has taken delivery of its third Phenom 100. Abelag’s fleet of brand-new Phenom aircraft have been a commercial success thanks to their modern, BMW-designed cabin interiors, which perfectly suit a new category of style-conscious clients.Bon voyage!

Partners in a $1.4-billion carbon capture and storage project in Alberta have pulled the plug on it, saying the economics around the technology are too poor to go ahead.

TransAlta Corp., Canada's largest investor-owned power generator, said industry partners Capital Power Corp. and Enbridge decided not to proceed with the Pioneer project after running front-end engineering and design studies.

"The industry partners determined that although the technology works and capital costs are in line with expectations, the revenue from carbon sales and the price of emissions reductions are insufficient to allow the project to proceed at this time," TransAlta said in its first-quarter results.

The project was made possible through $779 million in federal and provincial funding over 15 years, part of moves by Ottawa to reduce carbon emissions, credited with global warming.

$779 million of Canadian taxpayers´ money wasted on a totally useless project!

It would be interesting to know the amounts of money already been spent on similar projects globally.